Bitcoin News Summary – June 4, 2018

The National Tax Agency of Japan revealed that 331 crypto traders earned more than $1 million Dollars in profit over the course of 2017.

In further news out of Japan – massive GMO corporation announced plans to trial Bitcoin-based rewards in its upcoming, free to play mobile game, “Whimsical War.” GMO also announced recently that they’ll be unveiling their new 7 nanometer Bitcoin mining chip.

Venezuela will ban the importation of crypto mining hardware. As electricity is heavily-subsidized in the country, many Venezuelans have turned to crypto mining to survive the country’s disastrous hyperinflation. Venezuela’s fiat currency has become nearly worthless, currently trading for around 6 bolivars to a single satoshi.

Major Chinese exchange, Huobi, announced that it’ll be launching a cryptocurrency ETF, or Exchange Traded Fund. The fund, named HB10, will allow retail investors to purchase a basket of the top 10 major cryptos, weighted by market cap and liquidity.

Following Binance’s lead in relocating to Malta, Polish exchange, BitBay, announced that they’ll also be moving their operations to the crypto-friendly island nation. The move follows problems for BitBay with uncooperative Polish banks.

The International Monetary Fund has responded to the rise of cryptocurrencies by urging central banks around the world to improve their fiat currencies in order to remain competitive with crypto. The IMF report, released this week, is sub-titled “Crypto assets may one day reduce demand for central bank money.”